I30 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



coronet, to] ins. ; round base of horn, 6-^"^^ ins. Sixteen is the 

 greatest number of points I have ever seen on a single horn. 

 This was picked up in the forest, freshly shed, in 1888, and un- 

 doubtedly belonged to an old elk of great size which had been 

 known to haunt the district for some years. It is, however, 

 an inch smaller all over, except in width of palmation, than 

 the i2-point horns of which the measurements have been 

 given. I believe that in 1892 I fired at (in a wood so densely 

 set with stems that I had great difficulty in finding a passage 

 for my bullet) and slightly wounded this very elk. Oddly 

 enough he had been wounded in the nose the year before, and 

 within a short distance of the same spot, by my predecessor 

 in the shooting, who was also baulked by the dense growth of 

 the pine-trees. He was by far the largest elk I have ever met 

 with, and my hunter, a Lapp of great experience, assured md^ 

 that he had never seen one bigger. The conformation of his 

 antlers, so far as it was possible to judge in the obscurity of 

 the wood, was exactly that of the shed horn, the great palma- 

 tion with its fringe of closely set spikes being very remarkable ; 

 but to count the number of the latter during such a brief and) 

 exciting interview was impossible. I trust that some time next 

 season I may be able to study them at my leisure, and to> 

 decide whether the horns have increased since 1888, or begun 

 to deteriorate. It is certain that with great age, when the 

 vital and generative powers which undoubtedly nourish their 

 growth are impaired, they do go back, often becoming com^ 

 paratively stunted and distorted. Bad wounds and scarcity olr 

 food will produce the same result. The elk sheds its horns 

 during March and April, and the new growth begins to sprout 

 early in June. 



The average bodily measurements of a full-grown Scandi- ' 

 navian elk, let us say over seven years old, are as follows : 

 Length from tail to crest, 9 ft. 5 ins. : crest to nose, 2 ft. 5 ins. ; 

 height at withers, 5 ft. 8 to 9 ins. ; at quarters, 5 ft. 5 to 6 ins. ; 

 from belly to ground, 3 ft. 4 ins. ; greatest girth, 6 ft. 1 1 ins. to 

 7 ft. ; round thigh, 3 ft. ; round forearm, i ft. 11 ins. 



